Rakabganj gurdwara clash: Badal writes to PM

Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal on Friday sought Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's personal intervention to stop the Delhi government from going ahead with its "dangerous move to interfere in the religious affairs" of the Sikh community.

In a letter to PM, the ruling SAD patron-in-chief urged him to ensure that elections to the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) were held in accordance with the letter and spirit of the directions of the Supreme Court.

His missive came against the backdrop of a clash inside the premises of Rakabganj gurdwara in Delhi on Thursday in the run up to next month's DSGMC elections.

Expressing anguish over the incident, Badal said in the letter that the clash was a direct consequence of the chain of events unleashed by the "totally unjustified and provocative move of the Delhi government to interfere in the religious affairs of the Sikhs through a proposed amendment to the electoral procedure in the DSGMC."

He urged the Prime Minister to recall that he had drawn his kind attention to this very serious issue and had conveyed to him the apprehension in the minds of Sikhs all over the world that this could become a flash point of a series of unhappy events.

"Unfortunately, my pleas remained unattended. Yesterday's events have further confirmed the fears in the minds of the Sikh masses that the Congress government in Delhi is bent upon creating problems for the community for narrow political ends.

This is a dangerous development and does not augur well for future," he said in the letter.

Earlier, he told reporters, "It is very sad, I would say most tragic that such an incident took place inside a gurdwara. The attackers neither kept the sanctity of the gurdwara nor of our democracy. It was the worst thing that could have happened."